Disclaimer: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or any of the characters in this wonderful manga/anime in any way.

A New Family

Previously in chapter twenty four: Suddenly Kyoya no longer wanted the younger guard to accompany them to the restaurant, but felt he would be best to stay to protect the princess and Hana. He gave the young man a clap on the back as they left and leaned in towards him as he said in a low voice, "Just keep in mind that caring for my daughter is her primary focus, and protecting both of them is yours."

Chapter Twenty Five

Haruhi dressed in yet another wonderful Hitachiin design that totally shocked her that Kyoya and Kaoru had, without her trying it on, come up with a perfect look and fit. Haruhi concluded that a medium blue must be Kyoya's favorite color. It was yet another sapphire blue dress, diagonally cut straight skirt slit to the mid-thigh with only one shoulder opposite from the longer side of the skirt. And, as before, the jewelry he purchased the first day there was the perfect accent to her outfit and brought it all together. As she stepped out of her room, she saw Kyoya in a navy blue suit finalizing instructions for Hana and the bodyguard that was to stay in the room with them.

After final instructions were issued, Kyoya offered his arm to Haruhi to escort her to the waiting limo. They arrived at the restaurant and after giving Kyoya's name, they were escorted directly to a secluded seating area. Waiting at the table was a dozen red roses for Haruhi. It was an exquisite meal with good company and pleasant conversation. The one thing that Kyoya and Haruhi could always count on when they dined together was that there would always be wonderful conversation, albeit sometimes heated. Even when they avoided topics and things were strained between them, they could still find a way to have a pleasant conversation. Haruhi was always comfortable talking with Kyoya, even when the topic was uncomfortable. That feeling only confirmed what she was planning on telling him later that evening. She had woken up that morning knowing that she would put her fears to the test.

After dinner, the two tripped the light fantastic. As before, if Haruhi and Kyoya kept eye contact, she followed his lead perfectly, eliciting many compliments for the two. Kyoya made sure not to drink, he wanted Haruhi to have no excuse for not talking to him, despite having yet another day before their self imposed deadline. She feels so right being in my arms, I never want to let go. I know I have to because she won't be willing to move as fast as I want to. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even let her bother to return to Ranka's house when we return to Japan. I would have her just move in right away. NO, stop Kyoya. Don't get ahead of yourself. You don't know what she's going to say. Give it time. She said that she would bring it up after we return to the suite. Just give it time. Just dance with her damn it Kyoya. Make tonight a night she wont forget and then things will be fine.

Kyoya and Haruhi had a wonderful evening dancing the night away. On the ride back to the hotel, Kyoya asked Haruhi if she had enjoyed herself. Haruhi responded by curling up closer to Kyoya as she laid her head on his shoulder. Kyoya kissed her forehead. She lifted her head and kissed him. Their gentle kisses intensified as he pulled her closer to him, just as the driver opened the door at the hotel. Haruhi let out a little giggle and they climbed out of the limo to make their way up to the suite.

Once they were in the suite, Hana was sent to her own room and Haruhi stepped into her room to change clothes into something more comfortable. Kyoya did the same, and then walked into the living room. He had decided that he wasn't going to press Haruhi until after work on Monday. If she hasn't talked to him by that point, he would not allow the plane to take off until after they spoke. Kyoya turned on his laptop and began emailing instructions to several subordinates back home. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings when Haruhi exited her room and walked over to him. She started to gently massage his shoulders as he typed. "Hmmm that feels nice. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it. How busy are you?"

"For you, I would drop everything."

"It's not important enough for you to stop work. I'm not going anywhere until Monday."

"Hmmm, if only…" you weren't going anywhere but my bed. Her hands feel so wonderful on me.

"I promise you that it is perfectly ok to finish your work first. If you do that, then tomorrow you won't have to be distracted by work." If I am going to pour my heart out to you and put it on the line, I don't want to compete with work for your attention.

He finished the email he was in middle of composing, clicked send, and then turned in his chair to face Haruhi. "Shall we retire to the couch?"

"If you are sure that you have completed your work. I don't want to have to share you with work for a whole day."

"That sounds promising." He didn't dare to smile or let on that he couldn't help but to allow his hope to rise.

"Well, as long as you haven't lied to me about certain things, then it very well could be." She smiled a shy smile, still a bit apprehensive about what she was about to do.

"There is only one thing that I have ever lied to you about. When I announced my engagement you asked me if I loved Mitsumi and I told you that I would grow to love her. But I never did… I never tried. I couldn't. I couldn't get you out of my head." He took her hand off of his shoulder and took her to the couch so that they could sit and talk. "You were the reason I could never love my wife. She wasn't the one that I wanted as my wife. My father was right with his first choice. And honestly, if I thought that you felt the same way about me back then, I would have never listened to my father. My God, Haruhi, if you would have married me, even if my father had never even thought of you as a potential mate for me, I would gone against my father and married you. You should know me well enough that, until I owned enough on my own to surpass my father I would not do anything against him, with the sole exception of making you my wife. I don't know if I am getting my point across to you. I hope you understand what I am talking about."

"I think I do. At least, I hope I understand you. That's one thing about us. It seems that as long as we understand ourselves, we can understand each other. Right? Do you see it that way too?"

"That's hard to say. Was there a point that you didn't understand yourself?"

"Yes. That's why it's taken me so long to realize what it was I used to feel a long time ago. Things haven't really changed, the only difference is that I finally recognized and put a label on my feelings."

"So, labeling feelings, huh? Do you want to toss any of those labels at me?"

"Are you sure that you don't have any more work to do this weekend?"

"Haruhi."

"I mean it. I don't want to be interrupted after we start to really talk about this. This is too important to me to allow either of us to get distracted by anyone or anything other than the princess."